Three-dimensional games machine

ABSTRACT

An objective of the present invention is to provide a 3D games machine that can form a high-quality pseudo-3D image in real time. Segmented map information relating to a map that configures a game space is stored in a map information storage unit (110). This segmented map information contains map position information and an object number. A game space setting unit (104) reads out image information on the map from an object image information storage unit (120) on the basis of this object number, to set the games space. In this case, a plurality of types of segmented map information, of different numbers of segments, is stored in the map information storage unit (110). The game space setting unit (104) sets the game space by reading out segmented map information with a smaller number of segments as the distance between the vehicle operated by the player and the segmented map increases.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a 3D games machine that moves within a virtual3D space by means of a predetermined type of vehicle.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A 3D games machine configured as shown in FIG. 19 is known as a priorart example of a 3D games machine that synthesizes a pseudo-3D image.This 3D games machine is configured of a control unit 510, a game spacecalculation unit 500, an image synthesizing unit 512, and a CRT 518, asshown in this figure. In this case, the purpose of the game spacecalculation unit 500 is to set a game space formed within a virtual 3Dspace, and is configured of a processing unit 502, a game space settingunit 504, and an image information storage unit 506. The purpose of theimage synthesizing unit 512 is to form a pseudo-3D image as actuallyseen by a player, in accordance with settings from the game spacesetting unit 504, and is configured of an image supply unit 514 and animage rendering unit 516.

The operation of this prior-art example will now be described. Operatingsignals from the player are input to the game space calculation unit 500through the control unit 510. An example of a game space formed within avirtual 3D space by this 3D games machine is shown in FIG. 20A. The gamespace calculation unit 500 places 3D objects such as a ground surface519, mountains 520, a building 522, an installation 524, enemy aircraft532, and the player's own aircraft 530 on a game field 540 according tooperating signals and a previously stored game program, as shown in, forexample, FIG. 20A.

Control of the entire 3D games machine is performed by the processingunit 502. Actual image information on the 3D objects, such as the groundsurface 519, the mountains 520, the building 522, the installation 524,and the enemy aircraft 532, is stored in the image information storageunit 506. In this case, image information in which each of the 3Dobjects is divided into polygons and is rendered as such is stored inthe image information storage unit 506, where this image informationconsists of polygon vertex information and auxiliary data.

The game space setting unit 504 places these 3D display objects within avirtual 3D space in accordance with operating signals from the player,the games program, and control signals from the processing unit 502.More specifically, the game space setting unit 504 adds the imageinformation read out from the image information storage unit 506 withdata that determines the positions and orientations of this imageinformation, then outputs them to the image supply unit 514.

The image supply unit 514 performs processing such as transforming thecoordinates of the thus-input data from an absolute coordinate system toa viewpoint coordinate system, clipping processing to exclude data thatis outside the visual field, perspective projection conversion to ascreen coordinate system, and sorting, then outputs the thus-processeddata to the image rendering unit 516.

The image rendering unit 516 renders the image information that is to beseen by the player in practice, from the thus-input data. That is, sincethe data input from the image supply unit 514 consists of imageinformation formed of data such as polygon vertex information, the imagerendering unit 516 renders image information within these polygons fromthis polygon vertex information. After being processed, these data areoutput to the CRT 518 where they are rendered as a virtual 3D image asshown in FIG. 20B.

With the above described prior-art example, the image informationconsists of 3D objects represented simply by polygons, these 3D objectsare all placed within a virtual 3D space, and thus a pseudo-3D image asseen from the player is rendered. The method of this prior-art examplehas advantages in that both the data processing flow and the previouslyprepared data are simple. However, it has a disadvantage in that, sincethe 3D objects are all rendered at the same level of resolution and alsothe processing places them all within the virtual 3D space, the amountof data to be processed becomes huge. This means that hardwarelimitations make it difficult to provide an image display in real time,resulting in problems such as extremely sluggish movement of theplayer's viewpoint, skip of the display of pictures as if they wereseparate photographs, and the failure of many objects to be displayed.The 3D games machine of this prior-art example has thus been unable toovercome the technical problems involved in producing a high-qualityimage display in real time.

This invention is intended to surmount the above technical problems, andhas as an objective thereof the provision of a 3D games machine that canform a high-quality pseudo-3D image in real time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to solve the above described problems, a 3D games machinerelating to a first aspect of this invention forms a game space suchthat a player is enabled to move in a predetermined vehicle within avirtual 3D space by operating an operating means, wherein the 3D gamesmachine comprises:

a map information storage means in which at least position informationand an object number of a segmented map formed by dividing a map of thegame space into a predetermined number of segments are stored assegmented map information;

an object image information storage means in which object imageinformation specified by the object number is stored; and

a game space setting means for reading the segmented map informationfrom the map information storage means and for setting a game space byreading out the object image information from the object imageinformation storage means on the basis of the thus read-out segmentedmap information; and wherein:

the map information storage means stores a plurality of types of thesegmented map information, of different numbers of segments, and thegame space setting means reads out segmented map information with asmaller number of segments as the distance between the vehicle operatedby the player and the segmented map increases.

In accordance with this first aspect of the invention, a map that formsthe game space, such as a map for rendering a ground surface andmountains or a map for rendering meteorites and planets in outer space,is divided into a predetermined number of segments. The configuration issuch that details such as position information and object number of thesegmented map are stored as segmented map information. A game spacesetting means reads corresponding object image information from anobject image information storage unit, based on the object number withinthe thus segmented map information, and uses this to set the game space.In other words, it sets the display of an image of a certain segmentedmap at a certain position, within a virtual 3D space. In this case, aplurality of types of segmented map information, of different numbers ofsegments, is stored in the segmented map information storage means ofthis invention. The game space setting means obtains the distancebetween the vehicle operated by the player and each segmented map, andreads out segmented map information of a lower number of segments asthis distance increases. For example, first, second and third segmentedmap information could be configured of the same map divided into k, l,and m data items, respectively (k>l>m). In this case, the game spacesetting means selects the first segmented map information when thedistance between the vehicle and this segmented map is short, the secondsegmented map information when the distance is intermediate, and thethird segmented map information when the distance is long. In thismanner, an image display is enabled in which a map close to the vehiclecan be shown at a high resolution whereas a map far therefrom can beshown simplified. This means that not only can the amount of data to beprocessed in real time be reduced, but also a high-quality pseudo-3Dimage can be rendered, enabling the provision of a highly realistic 3Dgame.

A second aspect of this invention relates to a 3D games machine whichforms a game space such that a player is enabled to move in apredetermined vehicle within a virtual 3D space by operating anoperating means, wherein the 3D games machine comprises:

a map information storage means in which at least position informationand an object number of a segmented map formed by dividing a map of thegame space into a predetermined number of segments are stored assegmented map information;

an object image information storage means in which object imageinformation specified by the object number is stored; and

a game space setting means for reading the segmented map informationfrom the map information storage means and for setting a game space byreading out the object image information from the object imageinformation storage means on the basis of the thus read-out segmentedmap information; and wherein:

the object image information storage means stores a plurality of typesof object image information for an object to be displayed, includingobject image information from which detailed portions are omitted andobject image information which has the detailed portions;

the map information storage means stores, for the same map, a pluralityof types of segmented map information including segmented mapinformation that specifies object image information from which thedetailed portions are omitted and segmented map information thatspecifies object image information which has the detailed portions; and

the game space setting means reads a plurality of types of segmented mapinformation including segmented map information that specifies objectimage information from which the detailed portions are omitted andsegmented map information that specifies object image information whichhas the detailed portions, for portions within a map for which detailedrendering is necessary, or segmented map information that specifiesobject image information from which the detailed portions are omitted,for portions within a map for which detailed rendering is not necessary,and sets a game space by superimposing object images that are read outin accordance with this segmented map information.

In accordance with this second aspect of the invention, a plurality oftypes of object image information are stored in the object imageinformation storage means for each object to be displayed, includingobject image information from which detailed portions are omitted andobject image information which has these detailed portions. For example,if an object to be displayed is a mountain with a hut on the peak, imageinformation for the mountain itself could be stored as the object imageinformation without detailed portions and image information for the hutcould be stored as the object image information which has detailedportions. Similarly, a plurality of types of segmented map informationis stored in the map information storage means, including segmented mapinformation specifying the mountain's image information and segmentedmap information specifying the hut's image information. For portionswithin the map for which detailed rendering is necessary, the game spacesetting means reads out a plurality of types of segmented mapinformation including both the segmented map information specifying themountain and the segmented map information specifying the hut. On theother hand, for portions within the map for which detailed rendering isnot necessary, only the segmented map information specifying themountain is read out. The game space is set by superimposing the objectimages read out in accordance with this segmented map information. Asdescribed above, the present invention enables the rendering ofsuperimposed images, such as those of a mountain and a hut, for portionswithin a map for which detailed rendering is necessary. For portionswithin the map for which detailed rendering is not necessary, thepresent invention can render a single image such as that of the mountainalone. This means that a high-resolution image can be displayed forportions within a map for which detailed rendering is necessary, thusproviding a high-quality image. On the other hand, the resolution is lowfor portions within the map for which detailed rendering is notnecessary, so that the amount of data required for image display can bereduced. Note that the present invention can of course be embodied in aform such that a plurality of types of object image information ofdifferent resolutions could be provided as object image information thathas detailed portions, and a plurality of types of segmented mapinformation specifying this object image information could be provided.

In a third aspect of this invention, the game space setting meansselects the object image information according to the object number insuch a manner that an object that is placed in the segmented map isrendered in a simplified form as the distance between the vehicleoperated by the player and the segmented map increases.

In accordance with this third aspect of the invention, object imageinformation in which objects are simplified is selected for a segmentedmap at a position far from the vehicle. In other words, not only is thenumber of segments reduced for a segmented map at a position far fromthe vehicle, but also the objects forming this segmented map aresimplified. Conversely, not only is there a larger number of segmentsfor a segmented map at a position close to the vehicle, but also objectsforming this segmented map are rendered in more detail. This reduces theamount of data to be processed in real time and also enables therendering of a high-quality pseudo-3D image.

A fourth aspect of this invention is further provided with means forpreviously storing a plurality of map segment patterns corresponding toa positional range of the vehicle operated by the player and theplayer's line-of-sight directional range, wherein:

the game space setting means sets the game space by selecting one of theplurality of map segment patterns on the basis of the position of thevehicle and the player's line-of-sight direction, while the game is inprogress.

In accordance with this fourth aspect of the invention, a plurality ofmap segment patterns are previously stored to correspond with thepositional range of the vehicle operated by the player and the player'sline-of-sight directional range. The game space setting means sets thegame space by selecting one of this plurality of map segment patterns onthe basis of the position of the vehicle and the player's line-of-sightdirection, while the game is in progress. For example, assume that a mapsegment pattern P11 corresponding to a first positional range and afirst line-of-sight directional range and a map segment pattern P21corresponding to a second positional range and the first line-of-sightdirectional range are stored. Similarly, assume that a map segmentpattern P22 corresponding to the second positional range and the secondline-of-sight directional range is stored. When the vehicle position isin the first positional range and the player's line-of-sight directionis within the first line-of-sight directional range, the map segmentpattern P11 is selected. The map that forms the game space is segmentedin accordance with this map segment pattern P11. When the vehicle movessuch that it enters the second positional range but the line-of-sightdirectional range remains unchanged, map segment pattern P21 is nowselected. In this state, if the player's line-of-sight direction changesso that it is now within the second line-of-sight directional range, theconfiguration is such that now the map segment pattern P22 is selected.With a configuration of this form, in which the map segment pattern isselected in accordance with the vehicle's position and the player'sline-of-sight direction, the calculation processing required for imagesynthesis is such that it is imposed only on the segmented map withinthe range selected by that map segment pattern. This enables a hugereduction in the amount of data that the device has to calculate in realtime, and thus enables the synthesis of a high-quality image in realtime. Note that, in an apparatus in which the player's field-of-viewimage also changes when the direction of the vehicle operated by theplayer has changed, the player's line-of-sight direction can beconsidered to be the same as the vehicle's direction. In contrast, in anapparatus that uses means such as a head-mounted display, theconfiguration could be such that the player's line-of-sight direction isdetected by means such as spatial sensors and the selection of theappropriate map segment pattern is based on the resultant detection.

In a fifth aspect of this invention, the game space setting meansgenerates a map segment pattern while the game is in progress, based onthe position of the vehicle and the player's line-of-sight direction,and sets a game space on the basis of the map segment pattern.

In accordance with this fifth aspect of the invention, a map segmentpattern is not previously stored; it is generated sequentially while thegame is in progress on the basis of the position of the vehicle and theline-of-sight direction. The configuration is such that the map thatforms the game space is segmented on the basis of the thus generated mapsegment pattern.

A sixth aspect of this invention is further provided with an imagesynthesizing means for calculating the player's field-of-view image inthe virtual 3D space and synthesizing a pseudo-3D image on the basis ofgame space setting information from the game space setting means;wherein:

the image synthesizing means omits clipping processing during thesynthesis of the pseudo-3D image, for regions which are always withinthe player's field-of-view range at any position within the positionalrange of the vehicle.

In accordance with this sixth aspect of the invention, clippingprocessing is omitted during the synthesis of the pseudo-3D image forregions which are always within the player's field-of-view range at anyposition within the positional range of the vehicle. In other words,these regions are areas where image display must always be performed, sothey are designated to be clipping-unnecessary regions. Since clippingprocessing is the most time-consuming part of the image synthesis, thisomitting of clipping processing in these regions can help to greatlyshorten the calculation time. This enables a further increase in theimmediacy of the image processing.

A seventh aspect of this invention is further provided with an imagesynthesizing means for calculating the player's field-of-view image inthe virtual 3D space and synthesizing a pseudo-3D image on the basis ofgame space setting information from the game space setting means;wherein:

the image synthesizing means synthesizes the image by giving priority toimage information close to the position of the vehicle operated by theplayer.

In accordance with this seventh aspect of the invention, the imagesynthesis process gives priority to image information close to theposition of the vehicle. This means that if, for example, calculationprocessing cannot be completed within one frame, only data for positionsfar from the vehicle drops out; there are no drop-outs of data forpositions close to the player. The data from positions far from theplayer has been simplified as described above, so that even if such datadoes drop out, the player will not notice any effect. This ensures thatan image of a high level of quality can be maintained.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 (1A and 1B) is a block diagram of one example of an embodiment ofthis invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the exterior of this 3D games machine;

FIG. 3A, FIG. 3B, and FIG. 3C are schematic views of examples ofpseudo-3D images synthesized by this 3D games machine;

FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B are schematic views of other examples of pseudo-3Dimages synthesized by this 3D games machine;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of an example of a 3D object formed of aplurality of polygons;

FIGS. 6A and 6B show an example of the data format handled by this 3Dgames machine;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view illustrative of the 3D image calculationperformed by the image synthesizing unit;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view illustrative of segmented map information;

FIG. 9 is a schematic view illustrative of an object placed in segmentedmaps;

FIG. 10 shows an example of the data format of segmented mapinformation;

FIG. 11 shows an example of a map segment pattern;

FIG. 12 shows another example of a map segment pattern;

FIG. 13 shows a further example of a map segment pattern;

FIG. 14 is a schematic view used to illustrate the output sequence ofdata for the map segment pattern of FIG. 13;

FIG. 15 is a schematic view used to illustrate how map segment patternsare obtained by calculations;

FIG. 16A and FIG. 16B are schematic views used to illustrate how first,second, and third segmented map information is superimposed for display;

FIG. 17 is a schematic view of an example of a 3D object formed of aplurality of polygons;

FIG. 18 is a schematic view of one method of dividing segmented mapinformation, when a 3D map is used;

FIG. 19 is a block diagram of a 3D games machine of the prior art; and

FIG. 20A and FIG. 20B are schematic views illustrative of a game spacerendered by the prior-art 3D games machine.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

1. Outline of Game

An example of a 3D game implemented by the 3D games machine of thisinvention will first be described briefly.

The 3D game implemented by this 3D games machine is a fighter aircraftsimulator in which the player "flies" freely around a virtual 3D spacein his own fighter, to destroy targets such as enemy planes and enemybases. An external view of this 3D games machine is shown in FIG. 2. The3D games machine of this embodiment has a cockpit portion 8 with adisplay device arranged in front of it, such as a CRT 10.

The cockpit portion 8 is configured to imitate the pilot compartment ofa fighter aircraft, and the CRT 10 is positioned before a player 302seated in a seat 18. When the player 302 operates a control unit 140 tostart the game, a pseudo-3D image 30 appears on the CRT 10. Thispseudo-3D image 30 is projected as pseudo-3D images within a virtual 3Dspace as seen by the player, and, in the example shown in FIG. 2, thepseudo-3D image 30 is projected as if a fighter aircraft piloted by theplayer is taking off from an airport. The player 302 operates a joystick14 provided in the control unit 140, as shown in FIG. 2, to pilot theplayer's own fighter. The player 302 can also attack enemy bases andfighters by means such as a firing button 16 mounted on the joystick 14.

An example of the pseudo-3D image 30 seen when the player 302 isattacking an enemy base 32 is shown in FIG. 3A to FIG. 3C. As shown inFIG. 3A, this pseudo-3D image 30 is rendered to include a map imageconsisting of the enemy base 32, mountains 40, and a ground surface 42.The pseudo-3D image 30 when the player's fighter has moved from thestate shown in FIG. 3A to one close to the base 32 is shown in FIG. 3B,and the pseudo-3D image 30 when the player's fighter has moved evencloser to the base 32 is shown in FIG. 3C. The map image of the base 32,the mountains 40, the ground surface 42, and a river 44 shown in FIG. 3Bis rendered with more detail than the map image of FIG. 3A. Similarly,the map image of FIG. 3C is rendered in even more detail. For example,in FIG. 3C, details such as windows 34 and an antiaircraft (AA) gunmount 36 of the enemy base 32, as well as people 38 on top of the base32, are formed as clearly visible map images. The surfaces of themountains 40 are also rendered in even more detail. This descriptioncould be rephrased in such a manner that the map image is formed to besequentially simplified in FIG. 3B with respect to FIG. 3C, and in FIG.3A with respect to FIG. 3B. In other words, in order to give the playerthe impression that this is a high-quality game image, it is necessaryto render it in detail as shown in FIG. 3C in the vicinity of theplayer's own fighter. In contrast, there would be no real problem inpractice if the map images of elements such as enemy base 32 and themountains 40 that are located far from the player's fighter were notrendered in such detail. Even with such rendering, the player cannot beprevented from acknowledging that this is a high-quality game image.

Therefore, the 3D games machine of this embodiment is configured in sucha manner that the map images of objects positioned far from the player'sown fighter are simplified and those of objects positioned close theretoare rendered in more detail, as will be described later. This enables ahuge reduction in the amount of data to be processed in real time,improves the speed at which the player's viewpoint moves, and preventsproblems such as skip in the picture. As a result, a high-quality gameimage can be implemented in real time.

An example of the pseudo-3D image when the fighter piloted by the playerattacks an enemy fighter 50 is shown in FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B. Thepseudo-3D image 30 shown in FIG. 4A includes the enemy fighter 50 whichis a 3D object, and elements such as an enemy base 52 which is a mapimage.

FIG. 4B projects the pseudo-3D image 30 as if the player's fighter iseven closer to the enemy fighter 50 than it is in FIG. 4A. In this case,the enemy fighter 50 in FIG. 4B is rendered in more detail than in FIG.4A. Thus the player can be made to feel that he is attacking the enemyfighter 50, which greatly increases the realism of the game. Since theplayer's fighter is diving steeply in FIG. 4B in order to attack theenemy fighter, the map image of an element such as the enemy base 52 isprojected in more detail and this can further increase the realism ofthe game.

Once the fighter piloted by the player has finished attacking the enemybase and fighters, it can be made to return to its airport, ending thegame. Note that the above description is concerned to a one-player game,but it can equally well be applied to a multi-player type of game fortwo or more people.

2. Description of Overall Configuration

A block diagram of one embodiment of a 3D games machine in accordancewith the present invention is shown in FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 1, this 3D games machine is configured to comprise thecontrol unit 140 to which the player inputs operating signals, a gamespace calculation unit 100 that sets a game space in accordance with apredetermined game program, an image synthesizing unit 200 that createsa pseudo-3D image as seen from the player's viewpoint position, and theCRT 10 that outputs the pseudo-3D image.

When this 3D games machine is configured as a driving simulator, forinstance, the control unit 140 could be connected to controls such as asteering wheel and gear lever for "driving" a sports car, and it couldinput operating signals from those controls. When the 3D games machineis configured as the above dog-fight type of game, the control unit 140will be connected to the joystick 14 for piloting the fighter and thefiring button 16 for firing weapons such as a machine gun and/ormissiles.

The game space calculation unit 100 is configured to comprise a theprocessing unit 102, a game space setting unit 104, a vehicleinformation storage unit 108, a map information storage unit 110, and anobject image information storage unit 120.

The processing unit 102 provides control over the entire 3D gamesmachine. A memory section provided within the processing unit 102 storesa predetermined game program. The game space calculation unit 100 isdesigned to set a game space in accordance with this game program andoperating signals from the control unit 140.

Position information and direction information for each vehicle objectsuch as an enemy fighter and an object number of the object such as anenemy fighter that is to be displayed at that position is stored in thevehicle information storage unit 108 (this stored position and directioninformation and the object number is hereinafter called "vehicleinformation"). A map formed from elements such as a ground surface,mountains, enemy base, and river is segmented into squares, and positioninformation of this segmented map and an object number of each elementsuch as a ground surface or mountain that is to be displayed at thatposition is stored in the map information storage unit 110 (this storedposition information and the object number is hereinafter called"segmented map information"). Image information on the enemy fighter,ground surface, mountain, or enemy base specified by each of theseobject numbers is stored in the object image information storage unit120. In this case, this image information is expressed as a plurality ofpolygons. For example, the enemy fighter 50 that is a vehicle object isexpressed as polygons 362 to 370, etc., as shown in FIG. 5. Imageinformation consisting of data such as vertex coordinates of each ofthese polygons 362 to 370 is stored in a vehicle image informationstorage unit 122 within the object image information storage unit 120.In a similar manner, map information on elements such as the enemy base32 is expressed as a plurality of polygons, image information consistingof data such as vertex coordinates of these polygons is stored in a mapimage information storage unit 124.

On the basis of this vehicle information and segmented map informationread out from the vehicle information storage unit 108 and the mapinformation storage unit 110, the game space setting unit 104 readscorresponding image information from the object image informationstorage unit 120 and sets the game space. Details of the configurationand operation of the game space calculation unit 100 will be givenlater.

A pseudo-3D image as seen from any arbitrary viewpoint of the player 302in the virtual 3D space, in other words, the pseudo-3D image projectedby the CRT 10 in FIG. 2, is synthesized by the image synthesizing unit200. In order to do this, the image synthesizing unit 200 is configuredto comprise an image supply unit 212 and an image rendering unit 240.

The image supply unit 212 comprises a processing unit 214 that controlsthe entire image synthesizing unit 200, a coordinate transformation unit216, a clipping processing unit 218, a perspective projection conversionunit 220, and a sorting processing unit 222. These units 216, 218, 220and 222 perform 3D calculation processing on image information such asthe vertex coordinates of polygons. The image rendering unit 240 formesan image of the polygons with all dots (pixels) within the polygons,from the image information such as vertex coordinates of polygons thathas been subjected to 3D calculation processing by the image supply unit212. The thus-rendered image is output by the CRT 10.

The operation of the entire 3D games machine will now be brieflydescribed.

First, as the game starts, the processing unit 102 starts to control thegame space setting unit 104 in accordance with the game program. Thegame space setting unit 104 reads from the vehicle information storageunit 108 and the map information storage unit 110 the vehicleinformation and segmented map information that was written therein bythe game program, in accordance with this control. Image information onobjects corresponding to the object numbers in this vehicle informationand segmented map information is read from the object image informationstorage unit 120. Data that include the read-out image informationtogether with the position and direction information within the vehicleinformation and segmented map information are then output to the imagesynthesizing unit 200 by the game space setting unit 104.

Data of a predetermined format are formed by the processing unit 214 ofthe image synthesizing unit 200 from data transferred from the gamespace setting unit 104.

The overall format of this data is shown in FIG. 6A. As shown in thisfigure, the data to be processed is configured such that frame data atthe head thereof links together with object data on all the 3D objectsto be displayed in that frame. After the object data comes a string ofpolygon data for polygons that form these 3D objects.

In this document, "frame data" mean data which are formed according toparameters that change in each frame, and which are configured of datathat are common to all the 3D objects within one frame, such as theplayer's viewpoint position, direction of view, and view angleinformation, monitor angle and size information, and light-sourceinformation. These data are set for each frame.

"Object data" mean data which are formed according to parameters thatchange for each 3D object, and which are configured of data such asposition information and direction information for individual 3Dobjects.

"Polygon data" mean data which are formed according to parameters suchas polygon image information, and which are configured of a header,vertex coordinates X0, Y0, Z0 to X3, Y3, Z3, and other auxiliary data,as shown in FIG. 6B.

The coordinate transformation unit 216 reads out data in the aboveformat and performs various types of calculation processing on thesevertex coordinates. This calculation processing will now be describedwith reference to FIG. 7.

Taking as an example the above fighter aircraft game, 3D objects 300,332, and 334 that represent the player's own fighter, an enemy fighter,buildings, and other obstacles are placed in a virtual 3D spaceexpressed in a world coordinate system (XW, YW, ZW), as shown in FIG. 7.Subsequently, the image information that expresses these 3D objects issubjected to coordinate transformation into a viewpoint coordinatesystem (Xv, Yv, Zv) based on the viewpoint of the player 302.

The clipping processing unit 218 then performs a form of imageprocessing that is called clipping processing. In this case, "clippingprocessing" means image processing that excludes image information thatlies outside the visual field of the player 302 (or outside of viewingpyramid opening into a 3D space), in other words, outside a regionbounded by front, back, right, bottom, left, and top clipping surfaces340, 342, 344, 346, 348, and 350 (hereinafter referred to as a displayregion 2). This means that image information that has to be processedsubsequently by this apparatus is limited to the image informationwithin the visual field of the player 302. If unwanted information ispreviously removed by the clipping processing in this manner, the loadon subsequent processing steps can be greatly reduced.

Next, the perspective projection conversion unit 220 performsperspective projection conversion to a screen coordinate system (XS,YS), but only on objects within the display region 2, and these data areoutput to the sorting processing unit 222.

The sorting Processing unit 222 determines the sequence of processingfor the image rendering unit 240 in the next stage, and polygon imageinformation is output according to that sequence.

In the image rendering unit 240, image information on all the dotswithin the polygons is calculated from data such as polygon vertexcoordinates obtained by the 3D calculation processing of the imagesupply unit 212. The calculation method used in this case could be amethod that obtains a peripheral outline of each polygon from thepolygon vertex coordinates, obtains a pair of outline points that are atintersections between this peripheral outline and a scan line, and thenprovides a line formed between this pair of outline points with datasuch as predetermined color data. A method could be used in which imageinformation on all the dots within each polygon is previously stored astexture information in means such as read-only memory (ROM), texturecoordinates assigned to each vertex of the polygons are used asaddresses, and this data is read out and mapped. Note that theapplicants have already proposed details of image synthesis techniquesfor this sort of texture mapping, in Japanese Patent Application No. Hei4-252139.

Finally, these pseudo-3D images formed by the image rendering unit 240are output from the CRT 10.

3. Detailed Description of Calculation Processing Performed in GameSpace Calculation Unit

The calculation processing performed by the game space calculation unit100 will now be described in detail.

The map information storage unit 110 of this embodiment is configured tocomprise first, second, and third map information storage units 112,114, and 116, as shown in FIG. 1. Segmented map information is stored ineach of the first, second, and third map information storage units 112,114, and 116.

Square segment patterns 60, 62, and 64 of segmented map informationstored in the first, second, and third map information storage units112, 114, and 116 are schematically shown in FIG. 8. As shown in thisfigure, the coarseness (number of segments) of each of the first,second, and third square segment patterns 60, 62, and 64 differs suchthat the first square segment pattern 60 is divided into squares thatare at the finest pitch, the second square segment pattern 62 is dividedinto squares of an intermediate pitch, and the third square segmentpattern 64 is divided into squares of the coarsest pitch. In thisembodiment, a plurality of types of calculation processing is performedwith respect to a map that contains the same elements, such asmountains, ground surface, and an enemy base, based on the segmented mapinformation with different numbers of segments. By performing thecalculation processing in this manner, a map that contains the sameelements, such as mountains, ground surface, and an enemy base, can berendered as images of different resolution. For example, map informationon the same mountain 40a, 40b, and 40c is divided into 16 segments forstorage in the first map information storage unit 112, into foursegments for storage in the second map information storage unit 114, andis stored complete without being segmented in the third map informationstorage unit 116, as shown in FIG. 9.

In this embodiment, the object itself placed at a segmented map positioncan be made to have different shapes, as shown in FIG. 9.

Prior example, FIG. 9 shows that the mountain 40a is formed of objectsH1 to H4, I1 to I4, J1 to J2, K1 to K2, and L1 to L4; the mountain 40bis formed of objects M1, M2, N1, and N2, and the mountain 40c is formedof a single object P1. In other words, it is clear from this figure thatthe mountain 40a is formed of detailed objects at a high resolution,while the mountain 40c is formed of a larger object in a simplifiedmanner.

Note that the objects indicated by H2 to H4 are the same as object H1;they are simply the object H1 rotated and repositioned. In a similarmanner, objects I2 to I4 are object I1, J2 is J1, K2 is K1, L2 to L4 areL1, M2 is M1, and N2 is N1--all simply rotated and repositioned. In theabove described embodiment, a more detailed, higher resolution image canbe implemented by keeping at least object image information in common.Thus a detailed image can be implemented while reducing the amount ofdata to be processed, so that the present invention can provide ahigh-quality image in real time. The mountain 40a, for example, isrendered as an image with seven surfaces. In contrast thereto, each ofthe objects H1 to H4, I1 to I4, and so on is formed of surfaces havingthree or fewer faces (polygons). Therefore, in accordance with thisembodiment, detailed objects having more surfaces can be implemented ofobjects formed of few surfaces.

Thus this embodiment ensures that the same mountain can be displayed atcompletely different resolutions and renderings, by varying thecoarseness (number of segments) of the square segment patterns, as shownin FIG. 9.

An example of the data format of the first, second, and third segmentedmap information when it is stored in the first, second, and third mapinformation storage units 112, 114, and 116 is shown in FIG. 10. Asshown in the figure, this segmented map information is configured of amap address for determining which segmented map information is selected,position information for determining the position of the segmented map,and an object number for specifying the object to be displayed at thatposition. This figure shows that the first, second, and third segmentedmap information consists of k, l, and m data items, respectively. Thesenumbers k, l, and m correspond to the numbers of segments in thecorresponding segmented map information, and are in a relationship suchthat: k>l>m. Note that there are no Y coordinates in the positioninformation because the map in this embodiment is flat. This means that,if a 3D map is used as the map, this positional data will include Ycoordinates, as will be described later. In this embodiment, objects arespecified by object numbers. This ensures that, since maps of mountainsand ground surfaces of the same shapes are formed continuously in anordinary game, the quantity of image information stored in the objectimage information storage unit 120 can be reduced by making these shapescommon.

The object image information storage unit 120 is configured to comprisethe vehicle image information storage unit 122 and the map imageinformation storage unit 124. Image information on vehicle objects thatmove in the game space is stored in the vehicle image informationstorage unit 122. This image information is represented as a pluralityof polygons, such as the polygons 362 to 370, etc., shown in FIG. 5, andis formed of vertex coordinates and auxiliary data for these polygons.In a similar manner, image information on elements such as the enemybase 32, mountain 40, ground surface 42, and river 44 shown in FIG. 3Ato FIG. 3C are stored in the map image information storage unit 124.This image information is also represented as a plurality of polygons,and is also formed of vertex coordinates and auxiliary data for thesepolygons.

The game space setting unit 104 comprises a map segment pattern settingunit 106 that sets a map segment pattern in accordance with instructionsfrom the processing unit 102 and the player's operating signals that areinput from the control unit 140. Vehicle information and segmented mapinformation is read out from the vehicle information storage unit 108and the map information storage unit 110 in accordance with the thus-setmap segment pattern. The game space setting unit 104 reads out imageinformation from the object image information storage unit 120 on thebasis of the object numbers in the read-out vehicle information andsegmented map information. The position information and directioninformation in the vehicle information and segmented map information isadded to this image information and these data are output to the imagesynthesizing unit 200 to set the game space. Note that the directioninformation is not always necessary when object images are all orientedin the same direction.

When it comes to setting up the game space by this embodiment asdescribed above, calculation processing is done according to thefollowing method to ensure that a high-quality image is synthesized inreal time:

(1) The further away that objects are from the player's own aircraft,the more the corresponding map image information is simplified. Onlydata that are within the player's visual field range are output to theimage synthesizing unit 200.

(2) As far as possible, data on objects close to the player's ownaircraft have priority in the output to the image synthesizing unit 200.

(3) Map image information that does not require clipping processing ispreviously identified, and the image synthesizing unit 200 is informedthat this image information is not to be subjected to clippingprocessing.

This calculation method will now be described with reference to FIG. 11to FIG. 14.

Examples of the map segment patterns set by the map segment patternsetting unit 106 are shown in FIG. 11 to FIG. 13. These map segmentpatterns could be previously stored in the map segment pattern settingunit 106, or they could be obtained as required by a predeterminedcalculation method. The selection of one of the map segment patternsshown in FIG. 11 to FIG. 13 is determined by the position of the fighterpiloted by the player and the player's line-of-sight direction (e.g.,the direction in which the player's fighter is flying). For example, themap segment pattern shown in FIG. 11 is selected when the player'sfighter is positioned within a shaded range H, and the player'sline-of-sight direction is between -11.25 degrees and 11.25 degrees.Note that the player's visual field angle is set to be 60° in thisembodiment.

The map segment pattern of FIG. 11 is formed as described below. First,a line P in this figure indicates a left-edge boundary as seen from theplayer, when the fighter piloted by the player is positioned at a pointA and the player's line-of-sight direction is at 11.25° (visual fieldangle of 60°). More specifically, this line P is at an angle of(30+11.25)=41.25° with respect to a forward direction starting from thepoint A. Similarly, a line Q indicates a right-edge boundary as seenfrom the player, when the fighter piloted by the player is positioned ata point D and the player's line-of-sight direction is at -11.25°. Morespecifically, it is at an angle of (-30-11.25)=-41.25° with respect to aforward direction starting from the point D. The map segment patternshown in FIG. 11 is such that first, second, and third segmented mapinformation is set to be positioned within a range bounded by the linesP and Q (note, however, that segmented map information in contact withthe lines P and Q should also be included for accuracy). With a mapsegment pattern set in this fashion, it is not necessary to subjectsegmented map information left of the line P and right of the line Q tocalculation processing in the image synthesizing unit 200. In otherwords., since the player cannot see to the left of the line P or to theright of the line Q, there is no need to subject that segmented mapinformation to calculation processing. This enables a huge reduction inthe amount of data to be processed, making it possible to provide ahigh-quality image display in real time.

In the map segment pattern shown in FIG. 11, the first, second, andthird segmented map information is placed in sequence starting fromclose to the fighter piloted by the player. This first, second, andthird segmented map information is rendered in such a manner that thefirst segmented map information is the most detailed and the second andthird segmented map information is sequentially simplified, as shown inFIG. 8 and FIG. 9. With a map segment pattern set in this fashion, anobject that is far distant from the player's fighter, such as the enemybase 32 in FIG. 3A, can be rendered in a simplified form and thus theamount of data to be processed can be greatly reduced. Since the sameenemy base 32 is rendered in far more detail when it is closer to theplayer's fighter, as shown in FIG. 3C, the player can be provided withan extremely high-quality image. If all objects are always renderedthrough the segmented map information of the same level, same seriousproblems such as skip of images or failure of displaying objects to bedisplayed can occur in FIG. 3A. Moreover, it becomes difficult inpractice to accurately render objects such the AA gun mount 36 andpeople 38 on top of the enemy base 32 in FIG. 3C, and so the realism ofthe game cannot be increased further.

In this embodiment, it is possible to specify that the imagesynthesizing unit 200 does not perform clipping processing on segmentedmap information in a range I bounded by lines R and S. In this case, theline R indicates a left-edge boundary as seen from the player, when thefighter piloted by the player is positioned at a point C and theplayer's line-of-sight direction is at -11.25° (visual field angle of60°). Similarly, the line S indicates a right-edge boundary as seen fromthe player, when the fighter piloted by the player is positioned at apoint B and the player's line-of-sight direction is at 11.25°. Thisrange I bounded by lines R and S is a range that should be alwaysdisplayed when the position of the player's fighter is within the rangeH. Therefore, it is possible to specify that this range I is a region inwhich clipping is not required. Thus this embodiment specifies to theimage synthesizing unit 200 that clipping processing is not to beperformed on the data in this range I, which is intended to greatlyreduce the amount of data to be processed. Since clipping processing isthe most time-consuming part of the work done by the image synthesizingunit 200, this reduction in the amount of data to be processed isparticularly effective in increasing the immediacy of the imageprocessing.

This map segment pattern shown in FIG. 12 is that selected when theplayer's fighter is in the range H and the line-of-sight direction iswithin the range of 11.25° to 33.75°. In a similar manner, the mapsegment pattern shown in FIG. 13 is that selected when the line-of-sightdirection is within the range of 33.75° to 56.25°. In this embodiment,three map segment patterns are provided as described above, and mapsegment patterns for other regions are generated by subjecting one ofthese three map segment patterns to coordinate transformation. An entireset of 16 patterns could be previously provided. The number of mapsegment patterns could also be increased, or could be decreased.

An example of the sequence in which data are output to the imagesynthesizing unit 200 for the map segment pattern of FIG. 13 is shown inFIG. 14. As shown in this figure, the first data output to the imagesynthesizing unit 200 is that for positions as close as possible to theplayer's fighter. The outputting of data in this sequence ensures thatthere are no drop-outs in the data for regions close to the player'sfighter as shown in FIG. 14, even if, for example, data drops outbecause the image synthesizing unit 200 does not have time to completeall the image processing. Since this data has been simplified asdescribed above, drop-outs in such data will not seriously affect theview as seen by the player. Therefore, a high level of quality can beexpected of images rendered by this 3D games machine. Note that, thedata output sequence in FIG. 14 is determined first of all in the firstsegmented map information, then in the second and then third segmentedmap information in order, by changing the X coordinates. Determining theoutput sequence in this order extremely simplify the processing.However, it should also be noted that this invention is not limitedthereto; the output sequence can be determined by any of various methodswithout departing from the scope of the present invention. For example,a method could be used in which the distance from the player's fighterto a segmented map could be calculated as required, and data are outputin sequence starting with data in which this distance is the shortest.

The above description is concerned to an arrangement in which apredetermined map segment pattern is provided in the map segment patternsetting unit 106, and this is used to set the game space. However, thepresent invention is not limited thereto. A map segment pattern can becalculated while the game is in progress, and the thus-calculated mapsegment pattern can be used to set the game space. The acquisition of amap segment pattern by calculation while the game is in progress isdescribed below.

First, the position of the player's own fighter and the player'sline-of-sight direction while the game is in progress are determinedaccording to operating signals from the control unit 140 andinstructions from the processing unit 102. The map segment patternsetting unit 106 forms a map segment pattern as shown in FIG. 15 on thebasis of the position of the player's fighter and the player'sline-of-sight direction. This map segment pattern has a fan shapecentered on the position A of the player's fighter in the line-of-sightdirection and with a central angle of 60°, that is a visual field angle.The map segment pattern setting unit 106 then reads a sequence ofsegmented map information from the map information storage unit 110. Thedistance L between the player's fighter and that segmented map isobtained from position information (Xnk, Znk) in the read-out segmentedmap information. The segmented map information is sequentially filledinto the fan-shaped map segment pattern of FIG. 15 on the basis of thethus-calculated distances. In this case, if a calculated distance L issuch that O<L<P (where P is the distance to the boundary between thefirst and second segmented map information), segmented map informationis read from the first map information storage unit 112. Similarly, ifthe distance L is such that P<L<Q (where Q is the distance to theboundary between the second and third segmented map information),segmented map information is read from the second map informationstorage unit 114. If the distance L is such that Q<L, the segmented mapinformation is read from the third map information storage unit 116.

Each map segment pattern is obtained as required by the abovecalculation, then image information is read from the object imageinformation storage unit 120 on the basis of the object number in thethus-input segmented map information. Data including positioninformation in the segmented map information and this image informationare formed and input to the image synthesizing unit 200.

With the embodiment as described above, each map segment pattern can becalculated as required while the game is in progress, and this can beused for setting the game space. Various methods could be used forcalculating the map segment pattern in this case. For example, a mapsegment pattern need not be calculated for each frame; it could be donewhenever the position of the player's fighter exceeds a previouslydetermined positional range of the player's fighter. The use of such acalculation method means that the number of times map segment patternsare calculated can be reduced, and thus further increases in processingspeed can be expected.

In the embodiment described above, the regions in which the first,second, and third segmented map information is provided are separated,and the setting of each of the first, second, and third segmented mapinformation depends on the distance from the player's fighter. However,the setting of the first, second, and third segmented map information bythis invention could be done by another method, such as that shown in,for example, FIG. 16A and FIG. 16B. In other words, the first, second,and third segmented map information is set as shown in FIG. 16B, andthese groups of information are superimposed as shown in FIG. 16A.Object image information from which detailed portions of the object tobe displayed are omitted is specified by the third segmented mapinformation. On the other hand, object image information that adds thesedetailed portions is specified by the first and second segmented mapinformation. The display image is formed by superimposing images readout in accordance with this segmented map information.

Taking FIG. 3C as an example, map information for the ground surface 42is set as third segmented map information, map information for the enemybase 32 is set as second segmented map information, and details such asthe windows 34, AA gun mount 36, and people 38 are set as firstsegmented map information. The pseudo-3D image shown in FIG. 3C can beobtained by superimposing the images read out in accordance with thefirst, second, and third segmented map information that has been set inthis manner. Note that the windows 34, AA gun mount 36, and people 38can be drawn to a higher resolution than the enemy base 32 in this case.

If a mountain is to be displayed in a similar manner, the slopes of themountain could be set as third segmented map information, trees on themountain slopes could be set as second segmented map information, and ahut on the mountain could be set as first segmented map information.

With the segmented map information set in this manner, the amount ofdata to be processed is reduced and also the quality of the image can beincreased. In other words, the player perceives virtually no difference,even when maps of objects such as ground surfaces and mountains arepositioned in several places on the display image but the resolution ofthese images is not particularly detailed. Therefore, maps of this sortare most suitably expressed as third segmented map information. Incontrast, maps of details such AA gun mounts and huts are not positionedin several places on the display image, but it is necessary that theseimages have as detailed a resolution as possible. Therefore, maps ofthis sort are most suitably expressed as first segmented mapinformation. Setting the maps in this fashion ensures that the playercan be provided with a high-quality image in real time.

In this case, it is preferable that the radius of the segmented mappattern set by the first segmented map information is the shortest, andthe radius of the segmented map pattern set by the third segmented mapinformation is the largest, as shown in FIG. 16A. This is because thefirst segmented map information consists of the most detailed mapinformation. Therefore, making the range that sets this first segmentedmap information to be as small as possible ensures that the amount ofdata to be processed is reduced. In addition, there is no need to setdetailed image information for objects far from the position of theplayer's fighter.

The above description is concerned to a case in which map information issequentially simplified with distance. However, it should be noted thatthis embodiment is not limited thereto. Image information for a vehicleobject that appears in the games space, such as enemy fighter imageinformation, could similarly be rendered in such a manner that it issequentially simplified with distance from the player's own fighter. Forexample, a version of the enemy fighter 50 of FIG. 5 that is rendered ina simplified manner is shown in FIG. 17. The detailed enemy fighterimage information of FIG. 5 and the simplified enemy fighter imageinformation of FIG. 17 are both stored in the vehicle image informationstorage unit 122. The game space setting unit 104 obtains the distance Lto the enemy fighter from the position information of the player'sfighter and position information of the enemy fighter that is stored inthe vehicle information storage unit 108. If this distance L is lessthan the previously determined distance P, the detailed enemy fighterimage information shown in FIG. 5 is read out from the vehicle imageinformation storage unit 122. Conversely, if the distance L is greaterthan or equal to P, the simplified enemy fighter image information shownin FIG. 17 is read out from the vehicle image information storage unit122. The game space setting unit 104 adds position information to thethus-read enemy fighter image information, for output to the imagesynthesizing unit 200. Setting the game space in this fashion ensuresthat an enemy fighter that is rendered in more detail can be seen by theplayer as the player's own fighter approaches the enemy fighter 50 asshown in FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B. This makes it possible to see an enemypilot 54 in the enemy fighter, for example, enabling an increase in therealism of the game. This method of simplifying enemy fighter imageinformation with distance is particularly effective when several enemyfighters are appearing and disappearing on the screen.

Note that this invention is not limited to the above describedembodiment; various modifications can be carried out within the scope ofthe present invention.

For example, the above description took as an example a map ontwo-dimensional plane such as the ground surface, mountains, river, andenemy base were rendered as the map that configures the game space ofthe above embodiment. However, this invention is not limited thereto; amap that is formed in a three-dimensional manner within a 3D space, forexample, could equally well be used. A space-wars game in which theplayer destroys enemy spaceships while flying through space and dodgingmeteorites and other obstacles could be considered as a 3D game thatwould use such a map. In such a 3D game, the map could be of meteoritesand planets placed around the player's own spaceship. In this case, thefirst segmented map information could be divided as shown in FIG. 18Aand the second segmented map information could be divided as shown inFIG. 18B. By setting the game up in this fashion, not only can therealism of the game be increased by, for example, rendering the shape ofa meteorite in more detail as it comes closer to the player's spaceship,but also the amount of data to be processed can be greatly reduced bysimplifying the rendering of meteorites that are far therefrom. In asimilar manner, a dramatic effect can be achieved by gradually makingvisible details on a planer's surface, such as seas and mountains, asthe spaceship approaches the planet.

This invention is not only applicable to an arcade games machine; it canof course be applied to other types of games machine such as a domesticmodel (TV games machine).

The calculations performed by the game space calculation unit or thelike could be processing performed by a dedicated image processingdevice, or it could be processing achieved by the use of means such as amicroprocessor.

What is claimed is:
 1. A 3D games machine which forms a game space such that a player is enabled to move in a predetermined vehicle within a virtual 3D space by operating an operating means, wherein said 3D games machine comprises:a map information storage means in which at least position information and an object number of a segmented map formed by dividing a map of the game space into a predetermined number of segments are stored as segmented map information; an object image information storage means in which object image information specified by said object number is stored; and a game space setting means for reading said segmented map information from said map information storage means and for setting a game space by reading out said object image information from said object image information storage means on the basis of the thus read-out segmented map information; and wherein: said map information storage means stores a plurality of types of said segmented map information, of different numbers of segments, and said game space setting means reads out segmented map information with a smaller number of segments as the distance between said vehicle operated by said player and said segmented map increases.
 2. A 3D games machine which forms a game space such that a player is enabled to move in a predetermined vehicle within a virtual 3D space by operating an operating means, wherein said 3D games machine comprises:a map information storage means in which at least position information and an object number of a segmented map formed by dividing a map of the game space into a predetermined number of segments are stored as segmented map information; an object image information storage means in which object image information specified by said object number is stored; and a game space setting means for reading said segmented map information from said map information storage means and for setting a game space by reading out said object image information from said object image information storage means on the basis of the thus read-out segmented map information;and wherein: said object image information; and whereinsaid game space setting means reads out segmented map information with a smaller number of segments as the distance between said vehicle operated by said player storage means stores a plurality of types of object image information for an object to be displayed, including object image information from which detailed portions are omitted and object image information which has said detailed portions; said map information and said segment map increases storage means stores, for the same map, a plurality of types of segmented map information including segmented map information that specifies object image information from which said detailed portions are omitted and segmented map information that specifies object image information which has said detailed portions; and said game space setting means reads a plurality of types of segmented map information including segmented map information that specifies object image information from which said detailed portions are omitted and segmented map information that specifies object image information which has said detailed portions, for portions within a map for which detailed rendering is necessary, or segmented map information that specifies object image information from which said detailed portions are omitted, for portions within a map for which detailed rendering is not necessary, and sets a game space by superimposing object images that are read out in accordance with this segmented map information.
 3. A 3D games machine as defined in claim 1, wherein:said game space setting means selects said object image information according to said object number in such a manner that an object that is placed in the segmented map is rendered in a simplified form as the distance between the vehicle operated by the player and said segmented map increases.
 4. A 3D games machine as defined in claim 2, wherein:said game space setting means selects said object image information according to said object number in such a manner that an object that is placed in the segmented map is rendered in a simplified form as the distance between the vehicle operated by the player and said segmented map increases.
 5. A 3D games machine as defined in claim 1, further comprising:means for previously storing a plurality of map segment patterns corresponding to a positional range of said vehicle operated by said player and the player's line-of-sight directional range;wherein: said game space setting means sets said game space by selecting one of said plurality of map segment patterns on the basis of the position of said vehicle and the player's line-of-sight direction, while the game is in progress.
 6. A 3D games machine as defined in claim 2, further comprising:means for previously storing a plurality of map segment patterns corresponding to a positional range of said vehicle operated by said player and the player's line-of-sight directional range;wherein: said game space setting means sets said game space by selecting one of said plurality of map segment patterns on the basis of the position of said vehicle and the player's line-of-sight direction, while the game is in progress.
 7. A 3D games machine as defined in claim 1, wherein:said game space setting means generates a map segment pattern while the game is in progress, based on the position of said vehicle and the player's line-of-sight direction, and sets a game space on the basis of said map segment pattern.
 8. A 3D games machine as defined in claim 2, wherein:said game space setting means generates a map segment pattern while the game is in progress, based on the position of said vehicle and the player's line-of-sight direction, and sets a game space on the basis of said map segment pattern.
 9. A 3D games machine as defined in claim 5, further comprising:an image synthesizing means for calculating the player's field-of-view image in said virtual 3D space and synthesizing a pseudo-3D image on the basis of game space setting information from said game space setting means;wherein: said image synthesizing means omits clipping processing during the synthesizing of said pseudo-3D image, for regions which are always within the player's field-of-view range at any position within the positional range of said vehicle.
 10. A 3D games machine as defined in claim 6, further comprising:an image synthesizing means for calculating the player's field-of-view image in said virtual 3D space and synthesizing a pseudo-3D image on the basis of game space setting information from said game space setting means;wherein: said image synthesizing means omits clipping processing during the synthesizing of said pseudo-3D image, for regions which are always within the player's field-of-view range at any position within the positional range of said vehicle.
 11. A 3D games machine as defined in claim 7, further comprising:an image synthesizing means for calculating the player's field-of-view image in said virtual 3D space and synthesizing a pseudo-3D image on the basis of game space setting information from said game space setting means;wherein: said image synthesizing means omits clipping processing during the synthesizing of said pseudo-3D image, for regions which are always within the player's field-of-view range at any position within a positional range of said vehicle.
 12. A 3D games machine as defined in claim 8, further comprising:an image synthesizing means for calculating the player's field-of-view image in said virtual 3D space and synthesizing a pseudo-3D image on the basis of game space setting information from said game space setting means;wherein: said image synthesizing means omits clipping processing during the synthesizing of said pseudo-3D image, for regions which are always within the player's field-of-view range at any position within a positional range of said vehicle.
 13. A 3D games machine as defined in claim 1, further comprising:an image synthesizing means for calculating the player's field-of-view image in said virtual 3D space and synthesizing a pseudo-3D image on the basis of game space setting information from said game space setting means;wherein: said image synthesizing means synthesizes said image by giving priority to image information close to the position of said vehicle operated by said player.
 14. A 3D games machine as defined in claim 2, further comprising:an image synthesizing means for calculating the player's field-of-view image in said virtual 3D space and synthesizing a pseudo-3D image on the basis of game space setting information from said game space setting means;wherein: said image synthesizing means synthesizes said image by giving priority to image information close to the position of said vehicle operated by said player.
 15. A 3D games machine as defined in claim 3, further comprising:an image synthesizing means for calculating the player's field-of-view image in said virtual 3D space and synthesizing a pseudo-3D image on the basis of game space setting information from said game space setting means;wherein: said image synthesizing means synthesizes said image by giving priority to image information close to the position of said vehicle operated by said player.
 16. A 3D games machine as defined in claim 4, further comprising:an image synthesizing means for calculating the player's field-of-view image in said virtual 3D space and synthesizing a pseudo-3D image on the basis of game space setting information from said game space setting means;wherein: said image synthesizing means synthesizes said image by giving priority to image information close to the position of said vehicle operated by said player.
 17. A 3D games machine as defined in claim 5, further comprising:an image synthesizing means for calculating the player's field-of-view image in said virtual 3D space and synthesizing a pseudo-3D image on the basis of game space setting information from said game space setting means;wherein: said image synthesizing means synthesizes said image by giving priority to image information close to the position of said vehicle operated by said player.
 18. A 3D games machine as defined in claim 6, further comprising:an image synthesizing means for calculating the player's field-of-view image in said virtual 3D space and synthesizing a pseudo-3D image on the bas i s of game space setting information from said game space setting means;wherein: said image synthesizing means synthesizes said image by giving priority to image information close to the position of said vehicle operated by said player.
 19. A 3D games machine as defined in claim 7, further comprising:an image synthesizing means for calculating the player's field-of-view image in said virtual 3D space and synthesizing a pseudo-3D image on the basis of game space setting information from said game space setting means;wherein: said image synthesizing means synthesizes said image by giving priority to image information close to the position of said vehicle operated by said player.
 20. A 3D games machine as defined in claim 8, further comprising:an image synthesizing means for calculating the player's field-of-view image in said virtual 3D space and synthesizing a pseudo-3D image on the basis of game space setting information from said game space setting means;wherein: said image synthesizing means synthesizes said image by giving priority to image information close to the position of said vehicle operated by said player. 